A group in Pulaski wants to open a winter shelter for people who are homeless, but they may not be able to open this winter as they had hoped.
Volunteers from several Pulaski County churches have been working to open a temporary winter shelter, which would be located inside several local churches.
Retired minister, Terrie Sternberg, is with the Pulaski County ministerial association, the group leading the project. She said the winter shelter can help transition people into long-term housing and is also part of a larger community effort to help connect people with substance use disorder with recovery options in the community.
“It is also seen as a way of mitigating risk factors for people to fall into substance use and mental health stress,” Sternberg said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a winter shelter in Pulaski County and in several other locations throughout the New River Valley. Called To Our House, it’s managed through New River Community Action. During the pandemic, they limited their program, to avoid having to shuttle people. Now they offer shelter at churches along the bus route in Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
There are only 14 slots available each night, and they are typically filled.
Now, Sternberg and others want to open a similar type of shelter in Pulaski, with local churches hosting in the winter.
“That would increase the livability of all of our communities and our people in them,” Sternberg said.
But local ordinances require them to apply for an occupancy permit, which is a different process than what’s required for them to operate as churches, explained town manager Todd Day.
“That process takes some time,” Day said. “It could take several months for those upgrades to be done if those churches decide to move forward.”
Even if it takes until next winter, Sternberg is hopeful her group can get their churches approved to open a shelter.
